Their Eyes Were Watching God
Unlike The Odyssey or any other epic tales, Their Eyes Were Watching God has a different perspective of what a hero is. In this novel, Hurston writes a story about an African-American woman named Janie Crawford whose quest is to find her identity and desire as a human being to be loved and appreciated for who she is. Her quest to fulfill those desires is not easy since she has to overcome so many obstacles and challenges in her life. A superiority that her Nanny posses over her to determine Janie's own life when she was a teenager and being a beautiful accessory to the glory of Joe Starks' are some of the experience that she encounters. She also has to make some sacrifices. And yet, just like any other heroes, at the end, she returns to her home with a victory on her hands. Janie who continually finds her being defined by other people rather than by herself never feels loved, either by her parents or by anybody else. Her mother abandoned her shortly after giving birth to her. All she had was her grandmother, Nanny, who protected and looked after her when she was a child. But that was it. She was even unaware that she is black until, at age six, she saw a photograph of herself. Her Nanny who was enslaved mos
Life is a journey. Some people complete it and return home, others do not even take the first step. Women live in a dream, they tend to forget what they don't want to remember and remember what they do not want to forget. Janie always dreamed to love, be loved and appreciated for who she was. Having been married for two years with Tea Cake fulfilled those dreams. With that, she returned to Eatonville. Nanny's biggest mistake is that she never consults with Janie about what she wants in life. Janie's second husband, Joe Starks, is a repeat of Janie's unhappiness in marriage. At first, Janie looked at Joe as a man who would offer her an escape from her loveless marriage with Mr. Killick. She saw a promise of her a new lifestyle, adventurous and fun. But Joe, as with Nanny, was so obsessed with materialism and status. His success in re-building Eatonville to become a prosperous town made him the mayor of that town. People acknowledge his effort to get the power and wealth he has earned. They envied him because he was not only wealthy and powerful, but also he has a beautiful wife, Janie. As with the women of the town, they envied Janie because of having a great and successful husband. However, Janie was not happy. Joe's success was not her success. He took all the credits for himself and never shared them with Janie. He even treated her as if she were of his trophies that he had captured, and put alongside his other possessions and displayed them to the common folk. In addition to that, he often insulted and humiliated he
Some common words found in the essay are:
Tea Cake, Joe Nanny, Joe Starks', Logan Killicks, Janie Crawford, Tea Cake's, Joe Starks, Starks Janie, Watching God, Everglades Janie, tea cake, unlike joe, tried save, nanny forced, loved appreciated, own life, life tea cake, life tea, joe starks,
Approximate Word count = 1039
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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